Page 86 of The Little Shop of Curiosities, The Music Box Part 2

“Hey!” a familiar voice calls out, and my stomach clenches with panic. “Yeah, you, Blair Witch Project. Love what you’ve done with the place. Very Exorcist chic. But that’s my little ginger biscuit you’ve got there, so I’ll just be taking him with me.”

“Sam!” I hiss. “What are you doing here?”

“I’d have thought that was obvious,” Sam replies, even as his irritation with me bleeds through. “Rescuing you.”

“Are you mad?” I grit out as I try to crane my neck in his direction to see him better. “Or trying to get yourself killed?”

“Neither,” he snaps. “But I’m plenty pissed with you…Sage…”

“That’s not…I’m not…” I kick my legs to try and swing myself around to face him. “That’s none of your business,” I growl.

“I beg to differ. It’s very much my business seeing as you’ve managed to get yourself kidnapped and strung up like a chunk of meat in a kebab shop window. Which is exactly what I said would happen while you were busy lying to my face.”

“I—”

I’m abruptly cut off by the sound of Issac clearing his throat. He’s now standing and watching us, the knife gripped in one of his hands.

“Oh please,” Issac says from beneath his hood. “Please, don’t let me interrupt you. I have all night. In fact”—he turns his head slowly towards the old desk—“why don’t we ask your other friends to join us?”

The desk shoots across the room and crashes into the wall opposite, leaving Danny and Tristan crouched but completely exposed while Bruce and Dusty hover close to them.

“Surprise,” Tristan says with a little wave of his hands.

“Not really,” Issac replies, his tone droll. “But why don’t you join us? You may as well witness the birth of my new world.”

“You know who we are?” Tris frowns, gasping as Issac lifts his hand and pushes his hood back. “Detective Byrnes?”

“Close, but no cigar.” Issac smirks.

What a fucking wanker, I think to myself, and almost groan aloud as my shoulders give another throb of pain.

“Oh my god, how many glasses of wine did I have? Is his face melting?” Tristan’s eyes widen.

“It’s a glamour,” I reply irritably as I continue to slowly twirl around on the rope.

“A what?”

“A glamour.”

I sigh. I don’t really need to explain the spell further because as he releases his hold on the magic, the illusion dissipates, revealing his true identity.

At this point, I tune out a bit since he starts monologuing again, this time giving Sam and the others the whole Crawshanks Chosen One spiel, generally basking in his own cleverness and bragging about murdering the real Detective Byrnes, the poor man whose identity he’d stolen.

Fucking dickhead.

If I could just get loose, I’d slap him into the middle of the next sabbat. What is it with the bloody Crawshanks family spitting out psychopathic murderers? I’m actually a bit worried what else is going to fall out if I shake my family tree any more.

“Why him?” Sam demands, pointing at me. “You got what you needed from Viv.”

His eyes flick to the edge of the circle, and as I turn slowly on the rope, I jolt in shock when Vivienne materialises. Her eyes are wild, and she slowly circles the perimeter of the demon trap, reminding me of a predator.

Issac is saying something to the others about how Vivienne had been dosing herself with magic, making her blood useless just like we thought, but I’m not paying attention. My gaze is fixed on her as she suddenly shrieks and throws herself against the circle. The shield around it blazes and pulses. But that doesn’t stop her—she throws herself against it over and over again, beating her fists at it and clawing desperately.

My eyes widen and my mouth falls open when she is joined by the other ghosts. Dozens and dozens of them, surrounding the circle and beating their fists against the shield.

For me, I realise in shock. They’ve come for me. They’re trying to save…me.

Issac stumbles back at the sheer ferocity of the woman he murdered. She looks like the title character of a horror movie as she fiercely flings herself against the barrier, scratching and clawing at the shield. Her nails are torn away and her fingers leave bloody trails against the shield.